


They Hate You, I Love You

by mmmrrrw



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-07-27 16:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7626340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmrrrw/pseuds/mmmrrrw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi has always loved animals; cats especially. They have never been quite fond of him, though. Not even his horse, Dynamite, likes him at first. It takes a lot to gain her trust, but Levi wants more than that.</p><p>Around HQ, he notices that there are many stray cats hanging about because Hanji had a tendency to feed them. But no matter what he does, they still hate him.</p><p>While on a quest to get them to love him, he sees Mike asleep on the hillside one day. All of the cats love him.</p><p>Levi is immediately jealous, and he demands for the Mike teach him his ways.</p><p>[abandoned]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted something cute. I'm doing something cute. This ship really deserves more love and hopefully this fic helps spread some!

Levi had always liked animals.

Though the variety of them was limited to stray, dirty cats and dogs with thinning fur and even thinner bodies back in the underground, he was still very fond of them back then, too.

The problem, however, lied with how they felt about him. To put things simply, they hated him.

Cats would screech and stretch at him, their matted fur sticking up at odd points and eyes piercing - staring into his soul maybe. Dogs would growl and bark at him, always seeming to find something wrong with him no matter what he did. If he tried to touch them, they'd snap their teeth at him and he'd only avoid a terrible injury because of his good reflexes.

As a child, he supposed it affected him negatively. In the underground, alongside his mother, he had watched her often feed the strays with small leftovers and then imagine how soft their fur might have been. Unlike him, Kuchel happened to be a goddess to animals. All beings alike were charmed by her and no one was capable of ignoring her kindness or beauty.

When young Levi had attempted to play with a commonly appearing stray after weeks of hesitance and constant encouragement from his mother, the dog had bit him and he had cried for hours on end. He had then proclaimed that all animals hated him, because no matter how often his mother tried to prove him wrong things never ended up in his favor.

He vaguely remembered once saying how even the rats hated him because they always scurried away. His mother had to hold back a laugh at that one as she consoled him.

Now, Levi was still the same animal-lover as before, with only a few more inches of height on him than the last time he'd seen his mother, and he was… hiding.

Isabel and Farlan had not left him be at all when they had first found out about the unanimous hate for him coming from animals. In fact, Isabel had made it her main mission to get him a pet cat. It was easy to say that while the sentiment was nice, it earned him more bloody wounds than he really needed.

Farlan had been able to keep her in check with her eagerness after that incident, but Levi had no doubt that since they were above ground now with the chance of meeting far more types of animals, Isabel would try something again.

Which was why he had taken to sneaking off after training to his favorite spot; the hill behind the main building. It was quiet, relaxing, and usually populated by stray cats.

Levi had learned sometime when he first arrived that Hanji was the type of person that couldn't hold themself back. They were incapable of keeping a secret and, at one point during a lunch break, had announced to a small group that the pair of cats they'd been feeding had just given birth to a litter earlier that day. Hanji was, of course, not stupid, so they hadn't mentioned it at any point when Erwin was near.

Erwin was a stickler for rules - which could no doubt get him and Hanji in trouble one day - so one had to be careful if they were going against them.

From there Levi had followed Hanji from a distance to find the area and then taken to figuring out their schedule and how often they visited. There was no way he was going to let them know about his… problem. They would probably team up with Isabel and kill him with kindness.

For the past few months, whenever Levi had been stressed, bored, or in need of a good cheering up, he had taken to coming to this spot. It was his safety net, his home, his -

Or it was supposed to be.

But now there was a person lying down on the hillside and snoring loudly right in the spot Levi could only dream of.

It was Mike Zakarius, and he was covered in adorable fluffs of cats.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi's eyes never failed to wander back to the small animal, no matter how often he looked back up to Mike. The furrow had smoothed out and his eyebrows were raised, displaying worry rather than annoyance. The look was a rare one.

Mike blinked his eyes open as his vision grew less blurry. Above him stood the evening sky, a mixture of warm colors, and from the corner of his eyes he caught sight of someone sitting down beside him.

Mike's first instinct was to use his nose to recognize the person by scent rather than turn to face them, but he realized after a minute or two of sniffing that all he got was the excessive scent of cat. He looked over to the person, jostling the two kittens climbing about on his stomach.

Sitting at a distance from him was Levi. He was glowering at him with all his might, and even in the short time since they'd met, Mike could tell that it was different from his usual scowl.

Rather than be thrown off by the stare, Mike sat up slowly to avoid throwing the kittens to the ground and allowed them to land softly in his lap. As the two kittens pawed at each other in his lap, Mike glanced down to notice the large amount of black and white cat hairs littering his uniform. It would be a pain to clean, no doubt, but he wasn't too deter from doing so.

Mike looked up at the sound of crunching grass only to see Levi crouching down beside him. The deep furrow was his brows was still there to signify his annoyance, but the man was otherwise silent about whatever his problem was.

Mike wasn't too concerned with asking, because he was sure that Levi would bring it up if it was that important. After all, he had no problems being blunt about everything else.

There was a stinging sensation that drew his attention away from Levi's concentrated stare. He looked down to see a gray kitten biting his ring finger. The image was cute, but he couldn't help but grimace at the feeling. He picked the kitten up and sighed deeply when his finger was released after a short struggle.

Levi watched the entire thing, his eyes directed to the kittens. He didn't seem concerned at all about Mike in that moment, and he wondered briefly in Levi was the one who had been caring for them the past two months or so.

Rather than ask, he extended the gray kitten to Levi, who moved back in an instant. Even when his attention was elsewhere, his instincts were still on high alert. It was a good habit.

Levi inhaled sharply. "What are you doing?"

"Do you want to pet one?"

"What?"

"You've been staring at them for a while," Mike said. "You can hold them if you'd like. I should head to the mess hall for dinner soon anyway."

"No, I -! Are you sure?"

Levi's eyes never failed to wander back to the small animal, no matter how often he looked back up to Mike. The furrow had smoothed out and his eyebrows were raised, displaying worry rather than annoyance. The look was a rare one.

Levi said his name. Mike blinked twice and then saw Levi. Really saw him.

He shrugged. "Go for it."

Levi's arms extended out to take hold of the kitten, but his body was trembling, his eyes wavering. There was a hint of hesitant seen throughout his entire being. Whether it be by the way breathed or how he looked, there was no doubt about it.

Levi was nervous.

About what, Mike wasn't sure. He had hardly seen Levi even bother to express any emotion besides indifference and annoyance when he wasn't around Isabel and Farlan. Expecting him to know immediately everything about the soldier, as closed off as he was especially, would be unrealistic.

In an attempt to give Levi more of an option rather than forcing the animal on him, Mike set the gray kitten on the grass nearby Levi. He moved the last two kittens out of his lap and stood, heading in the direction of the main building.

-

  
Levi inhaled in one swoop and then held his breath as the kitten approached him. The other two were playing around in front of him, running through the grass and occasionally tripping on their short legs, but all of Levi's focus was directed to the one eyeing him.

In a fit of anxiousness, he withdrew himself - his arms, breath, and entire being - and dedicated everything to the small feline stumbling over to him.

It paused, letting out one of its high-pitched meows, and Levi's heart swooned, beating even harder in his chest - his emotions a mix of fear and excitement. If Mike could handle it, so could he.

He could not.

The moment he raised his hand and tried to pet kitten with two fingers on its head, Levi knew. The kitten had turned its head up and trapped his fingers in its tiny jaw, vicious even in such little size.

Levi's heart was broken, as was the moment.

He cursed, the kitten running off to join its siblings. Levi got to his feet and held his hand to his chest, turning back to face the building.

Mike was staring dead at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Way too busy to stand, ugh. I really like this chapter though.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He couldn't sit still either. His leg was shaking the entire time. His foot was tapping against the hard floor of the hall. His fingers kept twirling his spoon. His eyes kept shifting back to Mike. His mind kept going to back to Mike.

Levi couldn't eat dinner that night without glancing over to where Mike sat alongside Hanji and Erwin. Isabel and Farlan had to keep getting his attention back onthe current conversation and updating him because he would always be drawn away.

He couldn't sit still either. His leg was shaking the entire time. His foot was tapping against the hard floor of the hall. His fingers kept twirling his spoon. His eyes kept shifting back to Mike. His mind kept going to back to Mike.

It was incredibly unfair that Mike, as huge as he was, was able to walk away from him and then stand around unnoticed.

Or rather, Levi was angry at himself, not the universe. At least, right now he wasn't.

He had worked so hard to hone his observant skills and to work on his stealth, but somehow he had grown laid back since he'd joined the Corps. He wasn't eyeing everyone the same way, watching carefully for himself or his family. He had become far too immersed with the outside world alongside Isabel and Farlan.

In doing so, he had neglected his hard earned skills.

Levi stayed up late that night, training himself. He waited until Farlan's humming had stopped and he could hear Isabel's snores, before he dropped himself down to the floor and devoted himself to doing push ups.

He counted under his breath, panting hard as a bead of swear dripped down the side of his forehead. He had to force himself to continue moving instead of wiping it away, and the disgust at the bodily fluid was evident in his trembles. It was too tempting to get rid of it.

By the time he had worked himself until his arms were weak and legs were wobbly, Levi actually felt tired. His mind was focused on the idea of sleep more so than the incident earlier that day, which helped him get a few hours of rest before the training session the next morning.

He almost felt well rested, which was a miracle in itself. It made Levi think that things could turn out for the better.

The next morning, there was an encounter in the stables.

Levi had been assigned to stable duty, much to his own despair. The reason why, he was still unsure. It could easily be because of his attitude among his fellow soldiers, or it could be because of something else entirely.

Although he was annoyed by it, he followed through by spending the next hour and a half in the stables. He groomed the horses accordingly with excessive care, hoping not to disturb the animals, and then proceeded to clean each individual stall.

It went without saying that it was one of Levi's least favorite parts. He was, after all, shoveling shit.

He was finishing up in the second to last stall when he heard the tell-tale creaking of the stable entrance. Levi straightened up and cracked his back, groaning.

Levi exited the stall with the shovel in hand with the intention to hand off the rest of his duties to next one in charge. He stopped short when instead of one of his peers, he was confronted with Mike.

The man sniffed the air and then hummed in surprise.

Levi narrowed his eyes and walked past Mike to watering pipe. "What are you doing here?" he asked suspiciously, glancing at the other from behind his fringe.

"To get you to morning training," he answered.

"Shouldn't that be over by now?" Levi grumbled, washing away the leftover shit from the end of the shovel.

"We started late."

Levi made an acknowledging noise and set the shovel with the other tools. He turned to face Mike, his hands resting on his hips as he stared the man down. When he didn't detect any untruthfulness, he shrugged and told Mike to take lead.

The walk was silent, and while Levi would usually be comfortable with it, the atmosphere around it was horrible.

Levi pursed his lips and side-eyed Mike a few times until the pace stopped.

"Is there something you want from me?" Mike asked. "You smell agitated. Not that that's anything new."

Levi's eye twitched.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, huh? Some big shot?" he spat. "Just 'cause I'm not from around here like you are doesn't make you any better than me. And if you think for a second that I'm gonna let you look down on-"

"I'm not going to tell anyone about the cats, Levi."

Levi stopped, dumbfounded, and then stuttered out, "What are you talking about?"

Mike shrugged. "No clue." Then he began walking again. "C'mon, training's almost over and you look like you could use the distraction."

Levi swallowed hard and his upset expression evened out. He hurried after the man, though this time there was less of a weight in his steps.


End file.
